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The Partenopei struck the woodwork three times, with Raul Albiol only managing to equalise late on after Gennaro Sardo had fired Chievo into the lead.

Benitez underlined the need for his team to find their scoring boots in attack after seeing Higuain miss a point-blank effort, despite acknowledging the difficulties of playing against Eugenio Corini's men.

"It [Higuain's opportunity] looked easy, but replays showed it wasn’t that simple, as it was a very tricky angle. He still should’ve done better, though" the Spaniard commented to reporters.

"We haven’t been ruthless enough in attack recently and if Dries Mertens had scored instead of hitting the post, it would’ve been a different game.

"We needed a bit more speed in moving the ball, but hitting the woodwork three times against a team that came to defend was very unlucky.

"MarekHamsik came back well, though it wasn’t easy when Chievo were closing us up. Everyone of us needs more precision to find spaces against such teams."

The latest setback means the San Paolo outfit remain 12 points behind Serie A champions Juventus, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Lazio on Saturday night.